11th resident of South Florida nursing home dies

Medical staff at the Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida described the scene as patients from a nearby nursing home arrived in the early morning hours after eight patients died days after Hurricane Irma. (Sept. 14)
AP

Health care workers walk down streets filled with emergency equipment near Memorial Regional Hospital after eight people died and more than 100 were evacuated at The Rehabilitation Center in Hollywood Hills because of intense heat and no power after Hurricane Irma.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)

NAPLES, Fla. — Police increased the death toll to 11 from a South Florida nursing home that lost air-conditioning during Hurricane Irma and urged relatives of survivors to contact investigators.

"The Hollywood Police Department is treating all deaths from this facility as part of the criminal investigation, until otherwise advised by the Broward County Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services," the police department announced Friday.

Alice Thomas, 94, was identified as the latest victim to die from complications as a resident of the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills after the nursing home left patients there for several days without air-conditioning. Thomas died Thursday, according to the Hollywood police department.

Eight nursing home residents died Sept. 13 after they were left in the home in sweltering heat for several days. The body temperatures of some residents were higher than 108 degrees, with one recorded at 109.9, according to a state investigation.

One survivor's family filed a lawsuit Friday. The daughter of resident Edna Jackson, 87, filed the state lawsuit in Broward County, contending nursing home staff told her Sept. 7 they were prepared to respond to the loss of the air-conditioning system with coolers and backup generators and other supplies.

The staff said they would "lock down" the nursing home the next day in preparation for Irma, according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Vendetta Craig and Jackson, her mother.

Craig "relied upon the representations made to her by the staff at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills LLC, in deciding that it was appropriate to leave her mother at the facility for the duration of the storm," the suit states.

The nursing home "failed to address the obvious crisis by evacuating the residents, calling for emergency medical assistance from the hospital across the street or, at a minimum, contacting the residents' families to advise them of the situation," says the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

Jackson required hospitalization after she and other residents were evacuated Sept. 13, the lawsuit states.

The nursing home had a generator to support lifesaving medical equipment during the storm, but it did not have a generator for the air-conditioning system. The storm damaged the transformer powering the air-conditioning.

The families of three residents who died — Manuel Mendieta, 96, Carolyn Eatherly, 78 and Albertina Vega, 99 — filed lawsuits against the nursing home last week. Carmen Varoy, 89, was among the residents who were evacuated, but her family also filed suit.

The facility is under investigation by Hollywood police and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration suspended its license Wednesday.

The nursing home has filed a lawsuit challenging AHCA's actions and protesting an order by Florida Gov. Rick Scott barring it from taking on new patients or Medicaid payments. In its complaint, owners argue the staff followed the nursing home's pre-established emergency plan that was approved by the county and repeatedly called Florida Power & Light to restore power to the air-conditioning system.